Processionals and Recessionals
If it is a church wedding,
sometimes the organ is the only way to get enough sound to make the Processional
as dramatic as it needs to be.
I’d encourage you to use it for that,
even if you’re having other types
of music elsewhere. Even in
a
wedding that’s not in a church, some of the tradition and meaning carries
over. So, what’s really happening
in the Processional? Why did
I use
the word “dramatic?” In any wedding, this music signals the beginning of the
ceremony. In a church wedding, it
represents the gathering of people for worship, much the same as a Processional
Hymn. It symbolizes everyone
coming together for an important event in our lives, the clergy, the guests,
the participants. There’s
the
added “fun” in that you try to make the Bride’s entrance something memorable.
For this reason, you’ll
notice my choices don’t include “Canon in D” or “Jesu, Joy of Man’s
Desiring.” Nice pieces,
but
they’re not processionals, they’re quiet, dreamy pre-service music. Now, if you absolutely insist that your
wedding party must enter to something sleepy and hypnotic like that.. sure,
I’ll play it. But I really
do
encourage a more assertive style for the processional.
Recessionals (and literally
there is no such word because it means “walking backward” and you’re not going
to do that) can be similar to Processionals, or they can be a little
wilder. It’s a happy moment,
the
wedding party and guests are exiting.
Corelli Processional
(Sonata IX)
Charpentier
Te
Deum
Dubois, Theodore
Toccata
Haydn, F. J. St.
Anthony Chorale
Mathias, William Processional
Mendelssohn, Felix Wedding
March (“Midsummer Night’s Dream”)
Purcell, Henry
Trumpet
Tune, Trumpet Voluntary
Stanley, John
Trumpet
Tune
Wagner, Richard:
Bridal
Chorus, Assembly March
Walton, William
Crown
Imperial
Wetzler, Robert
Processional
on “Westminster Abbey”
Widor, C. M.
Toccata
(Organ Symphony No. 5)
You can also use big
arrangements of hymn tunes, such as “Now Thank We All Our God”, or “Ode To Joy”
as processionals or recessionals.
Pre-Service Music
Bach, J. S. Arioso,
Air for the G String, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Little Preludes and Fugues
Callahan, Charles Blest
Be The Tie That Binds Our Hearts, Partita on “Ode To Joy”
Cherwien, David The
King of Love My Shepherd Is, God
is With Us, Beautiful Savior
Handel, G. F.
The
Faithful Shepherd, Suite from “Water Music”
Jenkins, Joseph
Upon
An Old English Tune, Aria
Linker, Janet
Suite
on “O Waly, Waly” (The Gift of Love)
Lovelace, Austin
Trio
on “O Perfect Love”
Pachelbell, Johann
Canon
in D
Rheinberger, Josef Fughetta
in E-flat, Cantilena
Vaughan Williams, Ralph Rhosymedre
(“Lovely”)
Widor, Charles Marie
“Adagio”
(4th movement, Organ Symphony No. 5)